The General Assembly,
Convinced that the adoption of a declaration on crime and public
security will contribute to the enhancement of the struggle against serious
transnational crime,
1. Approves the United Nations Declaration on Crime and Public
Security annexed to the present resolution;
2. Urges Member States, in accordance with the provisions of the
Declaration, to take all appropriate measures at the national and
international levels to combat serious transnational crime;
3. Invites the Secretary-General to inform all States and the
relevant specialized agencies and organizations of the adoption of the
Declaration;
4. Urges Member States to make every effort to ensure that the
Declaration becomes generally known and is observed and implemented in full in
accordance with their respective national legislation;
5. Invites Member States to promote public campaigns, including the
use of mass media, that stimulate public awareness of and participation in the
process of crime prevention and promotion of public security.
ANNEX
United Nations Declaration on Crime and Public Security
The General Assembly,
Recalling the Declaration on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of
the United Nations, the Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International
Terrorism and the Naples Political Declaration and Global Action Plan against
Organized Transnational Crime,
Solemnly proclaims the following United Nations Declaration on Crime and
Public Security:
Article 1
Member States shall seek to protect the security and well-being of their
citizens and all persons within their jurisdiction by taking effective
national measures to combat serious transnational crime, including organized
crime, illicit drug and arms trafficking, smuggling of other illicit articles,
organized trafficking in persons, terrorist crimes and the laundering of
proceeds from serious crimes, and shall pledge their mutual cooperation in
those efforts.
Article 2
Member States shall promote bilateral, regional, multilateral and global
law enforcement cooperation and assistance, including, as appropriate, mutual
legal assistance arrangements, to facilitate the detection, apprehension and
prosecution of those who commit or are otherwise responsible for serious
transnational crimes and to ensure that law enforcement and other competent
authorities can cooperate effectively on an international basis.
Article 3
Member States shall take measures to prevent support for and operations
of criminal organizations in their national territories. Member States shall,
to the fullest possible extent, provide for effective extradition or
prosecution of those who engage in serious transnational crimes in order that
they find no safe haven.
Article 4
Mutual cooperation and assistance in matters concerning serious
transnational crime shall also include, as appropriate, the strengthening of
systems for the sharing of information among Member States and the provision
of bilateral and multilateral technical assistance to Member States by
utilizing training, exchange programmes and law enforcement training academies
and criminal justice institutes at the international level.
Article 5
Member States that have not yet done so are urged to become parties as
soon as possible to the principal existing international treaties relating to
various aspects of the problem of international terrorism. States parties
shall effectively implement their provisions in order to fight against
terrorist crimes. Member States shall also take measures to implement General
Assembly resolution 49/60 of 9 December 1994, on measures to eliminate
international terrorism, and the Declaration on Measures to Eliminate
International Terrorism contained in the annex to that resolution.
Article 6
Member States that have not yet done so are urged to become parties to
the international drug control conventions as soon as possible. States
parties shall effectively implement the provisions of the Single Convention on
Narcotic Drugs of 1961 as amended by the 1972 Protocol, the Convention on
Psychotropic Substances of 1971, and the United Nations Convention against
Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988. Member
States specifically reaffirm that, on the basis of shared responsibility, they
shall take all necessary preventive and enforcement measures to eliminate the
illicit production of, trafficking in and distribution and consumption of
narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, including measures to facilitate
the fight against those criminals involved in this type of transnational
organized crime.
Article 7
Member States shall take measures within their national jurisdiction to
improve their ability to detect and interdict the movement across borders of
those who engage in serious transnational crime, as well as the
instrumentalities of such crime, and shall take effective specific measures to
protect their territorial boundaries, such as:
(a) Adopting effective controls on explosives and against illicit
trafficking by criminals in certain materials and their components that are
specifically designed for use in manufacturing nuclear, biological or chemical
weapons and, in order to lessen risks arising from such trafficking, by
becoming parties to and fully implementing all relevant international treaties
relating to weapons of mass destruction;
(b) Strengthening supervision of passport issuance and enhancement of
protection against tampering and counterfeiting;
(c) Strengthening enforcement of regulations on illicit transnational
trafficking in firearms, with a view to both suppressing the use of firearms
in criminal activities and reducing the likelihood of fuelling deadly
conflict;
(d) Coordinating measures and exchanging information to combat the
organized criminal smuggling of persons across national borders.
Article 8
To combat further the transnational flow of the proceeds of crime,
Member States agree to adopt measures, as appropriate, to combat the
concealment or disguise of the true origin of proceeds of serious
transnational crime and the intentional conversion or transfer of such
proceeds for that purpose. Member States agree to require adequate
record-keeping by financial and related institutions and, as appropriate, the
reporting of suspicious transactions and to ensure effective laws and
procedures to permit the seizure and forfeiture of the proceeds of serious
transnational crime. Member States recognize the need to limit the
application of bank secrecy laws, if any, with respect to criminal operations
and to obtain the cooperation of the financial institutions in detecting these
and any other operations that may be used for the purpose of money-laundering.
Article 9
Member States agree to take steps to strengthen the overall
professionalism of their criminal justice, law enforcement and victim
assistance systems and relevant regulatory authorities through measures such
as training, resource allocation and arrangements for technical assistance
with other States and to promote the involvement of all elements of society in
combating and preventing serious transnational crime.
Article 10
Member States agree to combat and prohibit corruption and bribery, which
undermine the legal foundations of civil society, by enforcing applicable
domestic laws against such activity. For this purpose, Member States also
agree to consider developing concerted measures for international cooperation
to curb corrupt practices, as well as developing technical expertise to
prevent and control corruption.
Article 11
Actions taken in furtherance of the present Declaration shall fully
respect the national sovereignty and territorial jurisdiction of Member
States, as well as the rights and obligations of Member States under existing
treaties and international law, and shall be consistent with human rights and
fundamental freedoms as recognized by the United Nations.